Category: Pilots (Page 13 of 14)

Pilots Revisited: “Moonlight”

September 20, 2007 /

Welllllll…it wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be. But it didn’t exactly find me cheering for more, either.

Over the past few months, you may or may not have thrilled to the saga of “Moonlight,” CBS’s decidedly troubled drama about a vampire turned detective who in no way resembles this dude I know who used to work for Wolfram & Hart, so here’s a quick recap of the highlights and lowlights of what’s happened:

It started off being called “Twilight,” under the writing team of Trevor Munson (“Lone Star State of Mind”) and Ron Koslow (“Beauty and the Beast”), with executive producers Joel Silver and Gerard Bocaccio; Alex O’Laughlin (“The Shield”), Amber Valletta (“Hitch”), Rade Sherbedgia (“24”), and Shannon Lucio (“The O.C.”) were hired to star, and Rod Holcomb was set to direct. But, then…

1. The name changed from “Twilight” to “Moonlight.”
2. Lucio departed, eventually to be replaced by Sophia Miles (“Underworld”).
3. David Greenwalt, possibly because he missed working on “Angel,” came aboard as the show runner.
4. Amber Valetta and Rade Sherbedgia departed and were replaced by Shannyn Sossamon (“Dirt”) and Jason Dohring (“Veronica Mars”), respectively.
5. David Greenwalt, possibly because he quickly grew tired of all the “Angel” jokes, left as show runner, citing “health reasons,” and was replaced by Chip Johannessen.

As a result of all these changes, the show was retooled so many times that even when CBS offered its presentation for the show at the Television Critics Association Press Tour in July, the best they could offer us as an example of what to expect was a segment with the groan-inducing title of “Interview with a Vampire,” where the main character of “Moonlight” – Mick St. John – sits in a dark room and is quizzed by an off-screen journalist about what it’s like to be a vampire.

I don’t know about you, but no-one on the press tour was very impressed, and, basically, we were all left thinking, “Oh, God, this thing is gonna do a major, major bellyflop”…and this was before David Greenwalt left! (He was basically the only reason any of us were maintaining a shred of hope for the show.)

So here we are in that middle ground between mid-September and late September, with the premiere of “Moonlight” only a handful of days away, and, finally, we’ve gotten our hands on what’s almost certainly going to be the version of the pilot which airs on 9/28. And…oh, right, this is where you came in.

The first bad sign is that the series opens by recycling the “Interview with a Vampire” footage that was screened at the press tour. That ain’t good. I mean, yeah, it sets up the mythos of the vampire for the purposes of this particular show – they don’t sleep in coffins, garlic doesn’t do them any damage, sunlight ain’t good for ’em but it doesn’t make ’em burst into flame outright, and so forth – but it’s set up as being something that Mick is dreaming, and, well, it just feels lazy. From there, the first smile-inspiring moment came when we realized that Kevin Weisman (Marshall Flinkman on “Alias”) had quietly slipped into the cast. Weisman plays the cameraman of Beth Turner (Myles), an online TV journalist who, while investigating the murder of a co-ed, invents a tagline which suggests that the killing is rather vampiric in nature. This suggestion catches St. John’s ear, and he heads over to the scene of the crime, where he encounters Beth and realizes that he recognizes her from an encounter they had some years before…and, yes, that connection is paramount to the premise of “Moonlight.”

Everybody likes a good vampire story. The problem is, “Moonlight” doesn’t look like it is a good vampire story. Since we’re talking about a bunch of bloodsuckers, it’s only appropriate that we should go for the jugular and say outright that, yes, “Moonlight” does suffer from its comparison to “Angel.” David Boreanaz was dark, brooding, and looked like both a vampire and a bad-ass; Alex O’Laughlin puts on sunglasses and leers at people and, frankly, he just doesn’t look very intimidating. As a vampire, Mick St. John’s greatest gift seems to be that he can leave a room quickly and quietly; the only truly kick-ass fight scene in the pilot comes via flashback, and it’s when he’s fighting his former wife, Coraline, who we’re led to believe is dead (which almost certainly means that she is not). The most intriguing character on the show isn’t even Mick; it’s his buddy and fellow vampire, Josef Konstantin, and, truthfully, he’s probably only intriguing because he’s played by Dohring, who comes off just as snarky here as he always did when he was busy being Logan Echolls on “Veronica Mars.”

Maybe I’m being too hard on “Moonlight.” Maybe the show will find its feet after everyone finally gets settled and comfortable. Unfortunately, based on what’s been offered up for the first episode, it’s looking like we might have another cheese-fest like “Forever Knight” on our hands…and as vampire-centric TV series go, that ain’t necessarily the one you want to use as a touchstone.

Actors, Actresses, External Entertainment, External TV, Fall TV Preview, News, Pilots, Reviews, TV, TV Dramas

Let’s talk “Back To You”

September 19, 2007 /

Did anyone catch the premiere of “Back to You” this evening, or were you all too busy trying to spot evidence of child welfare violations in “Kid Nation”?

If you saw it, I’m curious as to what you thought. There have been a lot of mixed reviews about the show floating around, some calling it the savior of the traditional multi-camera sitcom, others call it a waste of Grade-A comedic talent. Personally, I thought the pilot was just…okay. Not fantastic (except for Fred Willard), not awful, just…okay. I’ve now also had a chance to check out the second episode, “Fish Story,” and…well, I gotta tell you, I feel exactly the same way about it.

It’s great to see Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton on the small screen again, and, yes, they do seem to have a chemistry, but right now, the banter isn’t up to par with what we’ve come to expect from either of them. It’s pretty lazy stuff. I’m much more interested in seeing the rest of the ensemble cast begin to blossom; Ty Burrell’s delivery as Gary Crezyzewski is nice and dry, and, well, Fred Willard can do no wrong in my eyes, but, criminey, two episodes in, and I still feel like Josh Gad’s performance as Ryan Church is nothing more than an imitation of Chris Farley’s motivational speaker who lives in a van by the river!

Anyway, here’s a clip from the pilot, if you missed it tonight:

Actors, Actresses, External Entertainment, External TV, Fall TV Preview, News, Pilots, Reviews, TV, TV Comedies

Pilots Revisited: “Reaper”

September 19, 2007 /

So we got our hands on a copy of the revised pilot for “Reaper,” and the DVD box now features a tagline for the show:

“Meet Satan’s biggest tools.”

Ugh. God love The CW for picking up this great series, but, wow, that’s awful. I mean, seriously, it’s pretty awful. The only thing vaguely funny about it is that it reminds us that, at one point during the pilot, The Devil (Ray Wise), sees the soul Sam’s supposed to return to Hell and says, “Oh, gag! Look at that tool! Would you capture him already?”

That moment is funny. The tagline itself is not.

Okay, back to the revised pilot.

As you may or may not have read in our previous entries about the show, the role of Andi, Sam’s co-worker who he’s been crushing hard on for quite some time, has been taken away from Nikki Reed, star and co-writer of the film “Thirteen,” and given instead to Missy Perigrym, best known to fans of “Heroes” as Candice Wilmer, the shape-shifting associate of Noah “H.R.G.” Bennet. Since I am a fan of “Heroes,” that might be why, when Perigrym first appeared on the screen in “Reaper,” I found it almost impossible to buy her as the nice, sweet, and sympathetic girl that Sam’s been falling for. Fortunately, however, as the show progresses, it gradually becomes a bit easier to accept her in the role…and, besides, however I might feel about her being in the cast, it’s clear that The CW is banking on her recognizability, since they’ve pointedly placed her visage on the cover of this promo DVD, right along with co-stars Bret Harrison and Tyler Labine. (Why Wise isn’t front and center, however, is a little inexplicable.) Otherwise, however, this revised pilot for “Reaper” looks and feels just as fantastic as it did before, packed with action, comedy, drama, and plenty of special effects. And, to be fair, it’s likely that most viewers will readily accept Perigrym in the role of Andi without question; I’m probably just partial because I really liked the clean-cut feel that Reed gave the part.

Mark your calendars: the series premiere of “Reaper” – directed by Kevin Smith, no less – airs Tuesday, September 25th, at 9:00 PM EST. You won’t want to miss it.

Here’s a teaser…

Actors, Actresses, External Entertainment, External TV, Fall TV Preview, News, Pilots, Reaper, Reviews, TV

Pilots Revisited: “Private Practice”

September 19, 2007 /

Confession: prior to the announcement that “Grey’s Anatomy” was going to be getting a spin-off, I’d never seen a single episode of the show.

Even worse, I don’t even have a decent excuse for it. Everybody I know who’s seen the show has loved it, so, really, it just comes down to the fact that there aren’t enough hours in the day for me to check it out. One of these days, though, I’m sure I’ll take the plunge and pick up a copy of Season 1 and just jump headlong into the series…and based on how much I enjoyed the pilot for its spin-off, “Private Practice,” that day may come sooner than later.

Y’know, I’ve tagged this as a “Pilots Revisited” entry, but the truth is that this is the first time I’ve checked out this pilot; before, all I had to go on was last season’s 2-hour episode of “Grey’s,” where Dr. Addison Forbes Montgomery (Kate Walsh) leaves Seattle Grace Hospital and goes to visit one of her friends, Dr. Naomi Bennett (Merrin Dungey), who’s a member of the Oceanside Wellness Center, in Santa Monica, CA. It was what the kids today call a “backdoor pilot,” which is to say that it gave the folks at the network all they needed to see to know that Addison’s adventures would make for a great series on their own…so, basically, if you saw the episode and heard about the impending spin-off, you won’t be surprised to find that the first episode of “Private Practice” – “In Which We Meet Addison, A Nice Girl From Somewhere Else” – begins with Addison tendering her official resignation to Dr. Webber (James Pickens, Jr.) and heading off to join Naomi’s practice.

Well, first things first: Naomi is now played by Tony Award-winning actress Audra McDonald, who you may or may not remember from a few episodes of “Kidnapped.” Otherwise, however, the gang from the Wellness Center remains intact…and, frankly, that gang – Tim Daly (“The Nine”), Taye Diggs (“Day Break”), Amy Brenneman (“Judging Amy”), Paul Adelstein (“Prison Break”), and Chris Lowell (“Veronica Mars”) – is what makes this show worth checking out whether you’re a fan of “Grey’s Anatomy” or not.

(Here’s a YouTube link to an ABC / Entertainment Weekly segment collaboration which talks about the cast.)

This first episode revolves around one key event: Naomi neglected to tell anyone else at the Center that she’d hired Addison, which annoys everyone to a certain degree, some more than others. Addison rolls with the reaction from her new co-workers and tries to indoctrinate herself into the group as best she can; meanwhile, everyone else pretty much just goes on with their normal day. The feel of the show is, I’m led to understand, pretty similar to “Grey’s”…which is to say that when I asked fellow editor David Medsker, “Does ‘Grey’s’ kind of blend humor and drama, with really snappy back-and-forth patter when the primary cast members are talking to each other?”, he responded, “I’ve only seen an episode or two, but that sounds about right.” So, y’know, take it with a grain of salt. As it stands right now, it looks like the series will blend the expected medical drama with a more leisurely pace – Addison’s told to expect an average of about one patient a day – that will no doubt lead to just as many developments in the characters’ personal lives as you’d anticipate in a nighttime soap.

Stupid ABC, making me want to watch a spin-off of a show I’ve never even seen before. Why must you create such a fantastic ensemble? You suck.

P.S. More, please.

Actors, Actresses, External Entertainment, External TV, Fall TV Preview, News, Pilots, TV, TV Dramas

Pilots Revisited: “Chuck”

September 18, 2007 /

I’m still a little uncertain about “Chuck.” There’s a whole lot to like about it, but I still can’t get a handle on what the producers are planning to do with it.

Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi) is the title character, a computer geek who finds himself working simultaneously for two different government agencies as a result of his former college roommate sending him a coded E-mail which, when Chuck opens it, bombards him with an ungodly amount of classified information that’s sent straight into his subconscious mind, only emerging in bits and pieces as he spots various “triggers.” It’s an odd blend of action, comedy, and romance…and when I say “odd,” I mean that it feels like it’s trying too hard to be all three things; there are elements of “Alias,” Jim Cameron’s “True Lies,” and even “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” but it’s definitely not a seamless blend of genres.

Having now checked out the pilot as well as the subsequent pair of episodes, it’s fair to call the second episode, “Chuck versus The Helicopter,” the series’ equivalent of a “Gilligan ruins a chance for the castaways to get off the island” plot, where it looks like Chuck’s gonna get the classified government information out of his head but – rather unsurprisingly, given that it’s only the second episode – he doesn’t. Hopefully, we won’t be getting one of these every week…and, more crucially, let’s hope the show’s humor doesn’t slide into the God-awful slapstick realm that it does here. There’s a scene where Chuck brings Sarah (Yvonne Strzechowski), the government agent who’s posing as his girlfriend to stay close to the secrets he possesses, over for dinner at his sister’s house, and when it comes times to serve dessert, you’ll feel like you’re watching a bad episode of “Three’s Company.” Thankfully, the third episode, “Chuck versus The Tango” (are you seeing the pattern here?), works better than either of the two segments which preceded it, leaving us hopeful but still fearful that it could prove to be an isolated success.

My biggest concern about the show, though, is that I’m just not entirely sure how “Chuck” is gonna do in that Monday-at-8PM timeslot it’s been given by NBC.

I’m not saying it’s gonna do badly there, but, basically, I just have absolutely no feel for it at all. It’s up against one massive ratings powerhouse (“Dancing with the Stars”), but, otherwise, all of its other competition is probably more or less on even footing. “Prison Break” is coming off a lackluster season, while the other two major networks are offering up sitcoms that are really funny but have rarely been major comedic players in the ratings (CBS’s “How I Met Your Mother” and The CW’s “Everybody Hates Chris”), and they’re paired with new sitcoms that seem poised to score similar descriptions in the future (CBS’s “The Big Bang Theory” and The CW’s “Aliens in America”). If it doesn’t take off right away – and, of course, provided that it maintains the standards set by that third episode – here’s hoping they at least give it a shot elsewhere on the schedule.

Here’s a teaser:

Actors, Actresses, External Entertainment, External TV, Fall TV Preview, News, Pilots, TV, TV Action, TV Comedies

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2026 Premium Hollywood

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑